The American Postal Workers Union is launching a national TV ad campaign promoting voting by mail. This comes as President Donald Trump has raised skepticism about mail-in ballots. He recently signed an executive order to put the Postal Service in the middle of election administration. The 30-second union ad features voters explaining why they vote by mail and will start airing in Ohio this week. The ad encourages voting by mail to be protected and expanded. Union President Jonathan Smith says postal workers should not be responsible for verifying voter eligibility, as would be required under Trump's order.
Union Berlin has appointed Marie-Louise Eta as the first female head coach in the men’s Bundesliga as it bids to ensure its league survival. She becomes the first woman to take charge of a men’s team across the top divisions of Europe’s “big five” soccer leagues. Union says the 34-year-old Eta takes over from Steffen Baumgart, who was fired with his assistants after the team’s 3-1 loss at last-place Heidenheim on Saturday. Eta was coaching the Under-19 men’s team and agreed earlier this month to take over as coach of Union’s women’s team next season. She has five games to secure Union’s Bundesliga survival. She made history in 2023 as the first female assistant coach in the Bundesliga.
A tangled political fight over whether Chicago’s public schools will hold classes on May Day has unraveled in the nation’s third-largest city. The influential teachers union, an ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, wants educators to participate in protests on May 1. That would coincide with workers’ rights rallies worldwide. But the newly named leader of Chicago Public Schools has rejected the idea to cancel classes. The ongoing scuffle has created uncertainty for the families of more than 315,000 students.
TMZ is turning its celebrity lens on Congress, tracking lawmakers on recess as a nearly six-week Department of Homeland Security shutdown drags on. Viral videos of senators in airports, Las Vegas and Disney World have fueled backlash and intensified pressure for lawmakers to return. That pressure now extends beyond social media, with unions and President Donald Trump all urging Congress back to Washington. But even if they return, there is no clear path to a deal. A bipartisan Senate agreement collapsed after House Republicans rejected it, leaving lawmakers at a deeper impasse and raising fresh questions about how — or whether — the standoff can end.
The Transportation Safety Administration says most of its officers received most of their backpay Monday for working during the shutdown. Weary travelers hope the overdue paychecks will end the hourslong waits in security at several major U.S. airports. Wait times began improving when the TSA workers were promised their first paychecks in weeks. Bottlenecks disappeared at airports in Atlanta and Houston on Monday. Houston's main airport went from a four-hour line just day ago, to a 10-minute wait. President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Department of Homeland Security to pay TSA officers immediately to ease the lines.
The NFL is moving forward with plans to begin hiring and training replacement officials in the next several weeks because negotiations with the referees’ union have been unsuccessful, two people with knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press. Both people spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday because the conversations are private. The league and the NFL Referees Association have been negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement since the summer of 2024. The current CBA expires on May 31. The NFL has increased its offer to a 6.45% annual growth rate in compensation over a six-year labor deal, but the NFLRA wants 10% plus $2.5 million for marketing fees, the people said.
Hundreds of employees at one of the U.S. Navy’s biggest shipbuilding contractors have voted to approve a deal with Bath Iron Works, ending a weeklong strike. The shipyard says members of the Bath Marine Draftsmen’s Association ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement Saturday that goes into effect immediately. Approval followed an hourslong union meeting at a high school in Maine. The shipyard and the union had negotiated for weeks without resolving differences before the strike began. The company has not responded to questions about whether the strike slowed production.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a bill to rename César Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day following sexual abuse allegations against the Latino labor icon. State lawmakers approved the legislation earlier in the day. The state has honored Chavez with a state holiday on his birthday, March 31, for years. The swift change comes after allegations Chavez abused girls and women, including fellow labor icon Dolores Huerta. The two led a landmark farmworker labor movement in California’s agricultural heartland in the 1960s and 1970s. Chavez’s name is on scores of monuments, schools and streets around California and the country.
WNBA players have unanimously approved the new collective bargaining agreement with more than 90% participating in voting over the weekend. The seven-year CBA, which will begin this season and run through 2032, represents a landmark labor deal for the WNBA and its players. The union says the deal "delivers consequential economic progress and expanded benefits that support players on and off the court.” Once the WNBA Board of Governors approves the CBA it will become official. Then there will be a sprint to the start of the regular season on May 8.
Across the country, collections are popping up to help Transportation Security Administration officers who have been without full pay for more than a month due to the partial government shutdown affecting the Department of Homeland Security.